Interview with Ninja Turtles’ producer Scott Mednick

Monday

Aug 4, 2014 at 1:28 PMAug 4, 2014 at 1:28 PM

By Ed SymkusMore Content Now

Growing up in the suburbs of Boston in the 1960s, Scott Mednick liked to draw — all the time. He went to Rhode Island School of Design with the intention of becoming a designer, and ended up heading west to Los Angeles, where he founded the successful design firm The Mednick Group, which later morphed into the even larger THINK New ideas, where he further established his expertise at marketing movies. Mednick eventually got into the producing end of the movie business when he and two partners — Thomas Tull and William Fay — formed Legendary Pictures, the company responsible in its early years for “Batman Begins” and “Superman Returns.” When Mednick went off on his own as an independent producer, he hit gold with “U2 3D.” His most recent project as producer is the reboot of “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.” He spoke recently by phone from his home in the outskirts of Los Angeles.Q: Are you the type of producer who has a specific plan about what to make?Mednick: I have no plan whatsoever, but I have confidence in my abilities. I figure that I’m going to be able to solve whatever problems or issues come my way. Throughout my career I’ve gone where my instinct has told me to go. It’s always been about whatever creatively satisfies me.Q: You seem to enjoy working in areas of iconic pop culture.Mednick: I make movies that I want to see. That’s why Legendary was formed. It was formed by guys who love popcorn entertainment, who love superheroes. That’s what that brand was always supposed to be. Our first films were “Batman” and “Superman.” As a kid growing up, reading comics ... we pinch ourselves. I can’t believe this! Even touching a little piece of this franchise was the greatest thing ever.Q: You announced that you were making the “Turtles” movie about five years ago. How did you get involved?Mednic: There was an animated “Ninja Turtle” movie that Warner Bros. released in 2007. In 2008 I got a call from the guy who produced it saying [“Turtles” creator] Peter Laird wanted to talk to me about maybe making a live action “Ninja Turtles” movie. I was excited, not just because I’m a fanboy geek, but my kids grew up loving the Turtles — so did I. I met with Peter. He loved the reboots of “Batman” and “Superman.” He said, “I’ve researched you. You understand our brand. You’re somebody I can trust, and your creative instincts are spot on.”Q: Now that you finally got it made, why do you think Shell Heads as well as people who don’t even know the Turtles will want to see it, and is it at all similar to the original 1990 film?Mednick: We’ve made great summer popcorn entertainment. [Our] Ninja Turtles are much darker. They’re not the Muppets, if you will, of the 1990 movie. But the thing that separates this franchise from any other super franchise is the humor. We tried to make sure that the action is at the highest level that you can find in a contemporary movie. The second thing is that the Turtles maintain the personality that we’ve come to know and love, between each Turtle, and how they interact. The humor that comes out of that interaction is intact.Q: Is this an origins story?Mednick: It’s not an origins story, but the origin is explained.Q: The end credits show an equal number of stunt people and visual effects people. So is there as much real stuff going on as there is CGI?Mednick: There’s an enormous around of practical work, of stunts. The way the Turtles themselves are created — there are four actors, and they have these very complicated motion capture suits. There’s also motion capture of their faces. There’s an enormous amount of that going on, and an enormous amount of practical stunts for the fights. After all, these are Ninja Turtles, so we have ninja fighting going on. It’s an entire village of special effects, stuntwork and practical and visual effects combined.Q: Are there any really cool Turtle toys?Mednick: Oh yeah. There’s even a Turtle van and a Turtle lair. And you know, as a producer we partake in the revenue from such things, so I want everyone to buy at least six or seven toys.

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